Building a better tomorrow : architecture in Britain in the 1950s

Using archive photographs from the Royal Institute of British Architect's photograph collection, investigates how architects undertook the task of reconstruction during the 1950s and the varied influences at play upon them. In a period which began with the strictures of post-war austerity and ended with a property boom, the coverage of such themes as the legacy of the Festival of Britain, the heterogeneous nature of post-war Modernism and its acceptance by a previously hostile public, the parallel robust survival of traditional styles, the flowering of public architecture seen especially in Hertfordshire's pioneering school building programme, the role of prefabrication, the development of the New Town movement, the resurgence of private sector architecture and the rise of New Brutalism, the increased involvement of developers in shaping the urban fabric, all combine to demonstrate the period's architectural diversity. ;